All the Devils' hottest news, from notes to numbers to neutral-zone traps

Thursday, April 10, 2014

The Devils and the Ottawa Senators are tied 1-1 in overtime of tonight's game at Canadian Tire Center.

THIRD PERIODThe Devils went on the power play for the first time when Zack Smith was called for hooking Adam Larsson 18 seconds into the third period. The Devils did not register a shot on goal during the man advantage, but Michael Ryder got one a second after it expired -- a wrister from between the circles that Robin Lehner got a piece of with his right arm.

Cory Schneider answered at the other end with a blocker save on Milan Michalek in front at 4:12. Schneider then made a good glove save on Kyle Turris' slap shot from the top of the right circle on the rush at 6:42.

SECOND PERIODThe Devils continued their surge from the end of the first period with persistent pressure on Senators goaltender Robin Lehner early in the second, but could not break through and get a goal. Lehner slid to his right to make a pad save on Dainius Zubrus' wraparound 3:00 into the second and then slid to his left to make a left shoulder save on Tuomo Ruutu's one-timer from the right circle at 5:19.

Ottawa's Ales Hemsky was awarded a penalty shot when he was hooked from behind by Marek Zidlicky on a breakaway. Cory Schneider denied Hemsky with a blocker save. Schneider is 1-1 on penalty shots this season. He allowed a goal to the Rangers' Derek Stepan on Jan. 26.

The Senators grabbed the lead anyway, however, on a goal from Mike Hoffman at 11:20. Hoffman worked a give and go with Mika Zibanejad on the right side of the ice, moving to the slot to take the return pass from Zibanejad and fire it past Schneider on the blocker side.

Looking for more offense, Devils coach Pete DeBoer moved up Patrik Elias to play on the top line with Travis Zajac and Jaromir Jagr. That led to a good scoring chance for Elias on the rush, but Lehner made a right pad save with 4:30 left in the period.

The Devils finally broke through with a goal from Michael Ryder with 2:34 left in the period during a delayed penalty on Ottawa. With Schneider on the bench for the extra attacker, Tim Sestito gathered the rebound of Adam Larsson's right point shot and tried to set up Anton Volchenkov in front, but the puck went off Volchenkov directly to Ryder at the left edge of the crease for the easy finish.

That was just the second goal in the last 34 games for Ryder and his 18th of the season.

The shots were 20-20 through two periods.

FIRST PERIODThe Senators had the first two power plays of the game, The Devils killed both off pretty efficiently, limiting the Senators to only one shot on each.

In fact, the Devils' best play so far has been shorthanded. They've had three shorthanded odd-man rushes so far. Dainius Zubrus' got their first shot on goal of the night on a shorthanded 2-on-1 at 8:18.

The Devils got a couple more shots from defenseman Adam Larsson (5:53 left) and Anton Volchenkov (5:31 left) at the points that Robin Lehner made pad stops on.

Mark Stone stripped Larsson of the puck in the slot in the Devils' zone and nearly slipped a shot between Cory Schneider's pads with 5:18 left in the first.

Schneider made a pad save on Clarke MacArthur wide open from the lost with 2:21 left in the first.

The Devils added a flurry in the final couple of minutes of the period to cut Ottawa's shots on goal advantage to 10-8.

Both teams have already been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention and have just three games left in the 2013-14 season.

Cory Schneider made his fifth consecutive start in net for the Devils against Robin Lehner for the Senators.

Patrik Elias returned to the Devils' lineup after missing the last two games with an apparent head injury. He''s centering a line with Damien Brunner and Mike Sislo on his wings.

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.